I have an old mountain bike that i would like to start riding again. I rode it today but there is something wrong. It will not shift out of the highest gear. When i move the shifter it makes some ticking noised but does not shift. As you can imagine its a pain in the ass riding in high gear everywhere I think it has something to do with the rusty cable lol but I truly know nothing about bikes. I would really like to fix this myself and not take it to a shop. Can anyone help?
I'm no bike mech but I know that providing pics of your situation will greatly help as there is no way to tell what kind of shifter mechanism you have.
Sounds like your front derailleur isn't aligned properly. I'd have to see a photo of your front and rear derailleur to see how to adjust it. But normally there will be two screws on the derailleur and if you turn these screws it adjusts how the derailleur will sit over/around the chain. Instead of me explaining it in further detail, just check this video out... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngm6dr-1na0]YouTube - 9 - Front Derailleur Adjustment[/ame]